WELLS — During a visit to Wells Beach after a recent blizzard, Maine poet and musician Chris Robley was so inspired, he made a music video of his experience.
“People in Wells may not need to be reminded how amazing a place their beach is, but as visitors, it captured a beautiful day in a beautiful place. It was so pretty I had to shoot it,” said Robley, age 36.
Robley and his wife Lauren Breau were visiting the area during a romantic getaway at an aunt’s timeshare.
Set to “Gaslight Girl,” an instrumental track from his self-produced album, “The Drunken Dance Of Modern Man In Love,” the video captures the lonely and beautiful quality of a pre-blizzard snowstorm.
Robley plays seven different instruments on the soundtrack including, the acoustic guitar, auto harp, keyboards, synthesized flute and various percussion instruments. He edited the video on iMovie and posted it on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.
After a decade of producing music and touring the West Coast with his indie-pop band, the professional songwriter and musician moved from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine in 2011 to be closer to Breau’s family in Lewiston and Robley’s parents in Rhode Island. The couple now resides in Lewiston with daughter Esmé, age 2.
“Now that I’m a dad, I’m touring less. That’s one of the reasons I’ve started producing music videos,” Robley said.
Between 2005-2010, the artist produced five albums of his own while also working as an executive for CD Baby, a distribution company for independent artists. His music has been praised by National Public Radio as well as regionally in both the Los Angeles Times and Boston Globe.
Like many musicians and songwriters, Robley is also a lyricist and poet. His words have been published in POETRY Magazine, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Northwest, The Beloit Poetry Journal, and RHINO a non-profit literary organization. In 2013 Robley won the Boulevard’s Poetry Prize for Emerging Writers and in 2014 he was the recipient of a Maine Literary Award.
“At this point in my life my attitude is to make music fun and silly with my daughter. When I was out West, touring was all about hitting the big cities. Now I’m looking forward to more local, small-circuit places in a small region,” Robley said.
Ogunquit is one of those small regions where the artist hopes to perform in the near future.
“I understand they have a really intimate music scene and I’m looking forward to visiting,” he said.
Robley’s albums, his new video, and assorted poetry can be seen on his blog at http://blog.chrisrobley.com.
—Tracey Collins can be reached at [email protected].
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